Friday, October 19, 2012
Rain room lets you walk between the drops
Boing Boing: The Rain Room, an exhibition at the Barbican Centre in London, is a room from whose ceiling torrential rain falls. However, a series of 3D cameras are used to track where people in the room are, and it selectively stops the rain such that you effectively walk between the drops.
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11 comments:
We have this in China long time ago................. and we also have fire room, earthquake room, prairie room, flood room and so on......Fine, we build some of them for self-save practice.......
This is ridiculously cool. The fact that technology like this exists is inspiring and exciting. It is interesting to think about how we could utilize things like this in the theatre industry. The idea of surrounding people with rain sure does immerse guests of the installation in a "world." In theatre, as one of our goals is to immerse audiences in the world of the play, what more could a creative team do other than to surround them in it? Although it would be really cool and innovative to use this technology in the theatre world, I think it could have the potential to also be dangerously distracting. However, I would love to have the opportunity to visit and explore installations like this in the future!
This reminds me of this store I was at in Germany. It was called globetrotter and it was like a rock creek but huge the store featured an icy room and a rain room. You could test of equipment before you bought it to see how well it worked etc.
I can definitely see this in the entertainment industry. It could add much more to a performance when the audience was getting rained on. I feel like this could really have some great applications to simulate shows especially in venues like universal etc. I think as Jess said it could be very distracting so in a theatrical performance its usage would need to be limited but in shows with fireworks and things of that nature it would add more depth to special effects.
This is amazing that they are doing all this with cameras. I wonder what the resolution is on the pice and as you move does it try to sense what you are about to do next or will it turn it off just about when you are going to get wet. Also I wonder how noisy it is, can you hear other people in the room or is it all drowned out by water noises. I hope that they make more of these and tour them or install them in the USA so that I can go see it with a lot of other people. It would be cool if they did some lighting interrogation on it so that it can change color or intensify to see if that would change the way people see it and act in it.
This is amazing. I have never heard of anything like this. I think that it would be such a surreal experience to walk through this room to be able to walk all around and through the rain but never in it. The experience is not only the act of walking in the room but also watching the other visitors walking through and what they do. This is amazing technology. It would have to react so quickly of it not to get water on people. In a way it would even have to predict here people will be going next.
I honestly cannot even fathom how this technology works because it's so incredible. I agree with Jess and Alex, I think this could really add to a performance. However, if I were to use it, I'm not sure i would put it over the audience. I would probably use it on stage. I mean, if we think about it, the costumes and the actors wouldn't get wet, and if we could add some lights to it we could get some really interesting and dramatic effects. I really hope this becomes a tool that we can use for real.
The shop I worked for a couple years ago built an Avalanche simulator as well as a Tornado simulator for the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, granted they weren't nearly as interactive as the Rain Room they were still cool. The Rain Room takes it another step further, especially with the use of 3-d cameras. I'd be really interested to see how the information captured by the cameras and sensors in the room translates to the control system for the water and dictates what nozzles to turn off when.
This is so fantastic. And another great example of art and technology combining to make something wonderful. I would love to go experience it for myself. I agree with Alex this could add such a cool effect for 3D movie audiences. It is similar to a muppet movie i watched at disney world where you actually got to experience all the smell, wind and bursts of water that the muppets encountered. I bet disney could do some pretty cool things with this technology. Also this could be really cool in the movie industry for scenes where there are props, costumes, etc. that dont want to get ruined. Oh, and this would make for a fantastic finale to a concert, the audience would be so amazed and none of the instruments would be effected. But at the same time we dont want to over use this because it could lose its thrill factor with over exposure.
JT, your comment makes me want to visit China even more than before. I would love to know what the flood room, fire room and the earthquake room would be like. Also the fact that they are used for protection practice is amazing to me.
Now back to the video. I think that it is amazing what we can achieve with technology. The fact that they can actually make the rain fall around you and not on you with the assistance of cameras is brilliant. I wonder if the cameras can also track quick body movements. For example if you did a quickly paced dance in the space, if it would still accurately prevent the person from getting wet. Humm it really would be great to do a devised performance piece in there!! They should look into that.
My only concern would be in terms of the water usage. I hope that they are recycling the water, due to the fact that they are using so much to create the rain effect on a daily basis.
wow, this seems really cool... But I don't think this is actually a social experience. It seems to me that three artist sat down and said "what would be cool?" As artist we walk this line of doing what we think would look great and what would serve a function or work on a deeper level. I think these artist just decided what would be cool and tried to come up with reasons for it. On a more comical note, why at the end did it say towels would be provided the whole point was you would not get wet...
How AWESOME!! If I were to be there at the exhibit, I'd probably be annoyed that I wasn't being drenched by a room full of rain. However, I think this would be a great addition to theatre, if possible. By the looks of it, it would be an expensive addition to a show, however, it would be so great to have it available in shows where rain is a necessity. It could add more of a sense or realness to the show. I still can't get over how people think of such great ideas. This is mind-blowing!
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